Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We've recently heard really harrowing truths from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide. The Department of Veterans' Affairs has become a bureaucratic machine, crushing the people it should be helping. The royal commission confirmed what so many veterans already know—the DVA simply doesn't have the capacity or the will to look after the people it's supposed to serve. This failing system is actually costing lives, and that failure looks like this. Over the past 10 years, an average of 78 serving or ex-serving ADF members have died by suicide each year. That's three lives lost every fortnight. That's three families broken every two weeks. These aren't just statistics. These are Australians who sacrificed everything, only to be abandoned when they came home.

The royal commission has laid it out in black and white. Defence incompetence is directly contributing to veteran suicides—because what happens when they turn to the DVA for help? Instead of the support they deserve, they get delay and they get denial, and they are forced to navigate a system that seems more interested in cost cutting than in human lives. Often they are left to feel like they are fighting a new war—one against the department.

The government has billions for defence spending on weapons and submarines but spends a pittance on the very people who give their service to our country, often at incredible personal cost. I know this because I've seen it in my own electorate of Ryan, home to the Army barracks at Enoggera. People come to my office at their wits' end, completely broken by a system that cares more about saving a few bucks than saving lives. They've been left waiting months, sometimes years, for their claims to be processed. The DVA has itself admitted to a severe backlog in its systems. While they wait, their mental and physical health falls apart. Veterans are twice as likely to experience anxiety, depression and PTSD compared to the general population. Getting help through Defence is an ordeal in itself. It's a vicious cycle. People need help but can't access it, and the systems that are supposed to be there for them are actually pushing them closer to the edge.

This isn't new. The royal commission report is just the latest in a long line of investigations. We've had 57 inquiries over the past three decades, with 770 recommendations. How much has changed? Almost nothing. Time and again, Defence has fought tooth and nail to squash real reform. They've protected their own interests while veterans continue to fall through the cracks.

Just look at the culture within Defence. The royal commission revealed a toxic code of silence and rigid military values that are contributing directly to the suicide risk faced by ADF members. It's a broken culture, plain and simple, and the leadership of the ADF must be held accountable. This is not just about individual failures; this is systemic. The Prime Minister had the nerve to stand up and say, 'Just as our veterans and defence personnel step up for our country, we have an obligation to step up for them.' Well, it's about time the government started acting on that.

The one indispensable recommendation from the royal commission is crystal clear. We need a standalone statutory entity to oversee and drive the reform that's long overdue. Without this, nothing will change. We need to clear the backlog of claims, ensure automatic approvals for delays and reform the way Defence handles mental health. Veterans deserve immediate streamlined access to mental health care without having to relive their trauma over and over again just to prove they need help. This isn't just bureaucratic incompetence; it's cruelty.

Harmonising the three acts covering veterans entitlements is the first step, but it's not enough. Veterans shouldn't have to navigate complicated, outdated systems to access what they are owed, and the idea that combining these acts will fix these protracted issues is almost laughable.

The Greens will reserve their position on this bill in the Senate to pursue amendments that will bring veterans and families comfort that they will be heard and not made worse.

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